Jets Have Opportunity but Fall to Patriots

Kenbrell Thompkins, covered by the Jets rookie cornerback Dee Milliner, appeared to catch a pass in the end zone during the second quarter, but the ruling was overturned after a review.Credit
Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Through the rain and through the wind, the Jets could see first place in the A.F.C. East. They saw their defense swarm. They saw New England’s offense sputter. They saw an end zone that, if breached, would catapult the Jets to a place that defied logic and good sense and anyone’s expectations but their own.

That view started fading when Geno Smith threw his first interception of the fourth quarter. It grew murkier, as if shrouded by fog, with his second. It altogether disappeared with his third, which came with less than a minute remaining in a 13-10 defeat against the depleted Patriots, their fifth straight loss to New England, on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.

The defeat, marred by a late melee along the Patriots’ sideline, will be remembered as a teachable moment for Smith, who was making his second N.F.L. start, but also as an opportunity squandered.

“I’m pretty sure when we watch the film,” linebacker David Harris said, “we’re going to be sick to our stomach because we know that we gave them a free one.”

Rare are the times when the Jets play Tom Brady and his primary receiving targets are Julian Edelman, Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins. Or when Brady completes fewer than 50 percent of his passes (19 of 39), which he had not done since Week 15 in 2009, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Or when New England converts 4 of 19 third down; gains only 54 yards rushing; records all of nine first downs; and does not score for the final 35 minutes 5 seconds.

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Geno Smith in the first half against the Patriots on Thursday night. He completed 15 of 35 passes and threw three interceptions.Credit
Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

Nothing about Thursday’s game provided him comfort — not the defensive performance, not the margin of defeat, not the 1-1 record, which they will tote into a Sept. 22 game against Buffalo at MetLife Stadium.

Usually Ryan offers an opening statement during his postgame news conferences. He did not on Thursday. It was all still so raw, so visceral. The critical first-quarter miscues — one physical, one mental — that produced 10 New England points. His benching of the rookie cornerback Dee Milliner, punishment for a few mental blunders. An injury to the superb defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson, who hurt his right ankle. The drops by Jets receivers — how many, Ryan lost count — that slowed their offensive rhythm.

“Just a lot of bad football on our part,” said the left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who was ejected along with Willie Colon for their roles in the scuffle that erupted after Aqib Talib’s victory-sealing interception (the Patriots took exception to what they perceived as a late hit by Nick Mangold).

Smith took the loss just as personally as Ryan. As players around him dressed and filed out of the locker room, Smith sat at his locker, elbows resting on his knees, staring at no one and everyone. A few teammates spoke to him directly afterward, offering words of encouragement.

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Running back Bilal Powell (29) after he scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter to narrow the Jets’ deficit to 13-10.Credit
Elise Amendola/Associated Press

“You could see it in his face,” defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson said.

It was a cruel lesson, but perhaps a vital one for the Jets and for Smith. Not every week can they benefit from an inexplicable mistake by their opponent to snatch victory from sure defeat, as happened last week against Tampa Bay. Smith was hailed as a potential savior in that victory, an embodiment of their revival. The Jets remain impressed by his poise and enthralled by his ability, and realize there will be tradeoffs on days like Thursday.

In his first game against a Bill Belichick defense, Smith, who completed 15 of 35 passes for 214 yards, acquitted himself well through three quarters, drawing the Jets to 13-10 on a 3-yard touchdown run by Bilal Powell with 5:05 remaining in the third. His next five drives: two punts, three interceptions, including an ill-advised misfire in the red zone that was grabbed, off a tip, by Talib, who picked off Smith twice and also forced a fumble. Another drive stalled out, with 4:29 left, when Alfonzo Dennard slipped inside Clyde Gates for the interception.

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“I don’t have to look at this as a learning experience because I think I’m ready for this — I know I’m ready for this,” Smith said. “So I have to go out there and take care of the ball and give us a chance to win.”

It seems to arise every season, that reason to doubt the Patriots, to predict their demise. Players come, go, get hurt, and still they win the A.F.C. East, nine titles in 10 years. So, by now, the Jets know better. They know better than to scan the injury report, with Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen and Danny Amendola and Zach Sudfeld all unavailable, and proclaim New England vulnerable.

“Oh, man,” Ryan said earlier this week. “I would not say that.”

Deep inside, Ryan had to know, though: Brady could not catch his own passes. Drops. Miscommunication. More drops. The 81-yard scoring drive he engineered to begin the game, capped by a nifty play-fake that exposed a busted coverage and left Dobson open for a 39-yard touchdown, proved just a tease.

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Alfonzo Dennard of the Patriots intercepted a pass intended for Clyde Gates of the Jets in the fourth quarter.Credit
Elise Amendola/Associated Press

It is nice to be lucky, which the Jets, to a degree, were. But they were also good, holding the Patriots to one first down or fewer on all eight of their first-half drives after that touchdown.

That was the theme for the Jets’ defense this week, as articulated by Wilkerson: “As long as we get three-and-outs, we’ll be fine.” They did, and they were. They held New England to two field goals — including one on a drive that began, after Devin McCourty scooped up a Stephen Hill fumble, at the Jets’ 8 — to trail, 13-3, at halftime.

A 10-point deficit — daunting, yes, but impossible? Hardly. If there is such a thing as a critical game in Week 2, this was it for the Jets, an opportunity to garner the respect they feel they deserve. They want to forge a new identity, plowing ahead with Smith and a promising defense, and yet they cannot, at least not yet.

Another distraction for a team that specializes in them surfaced about four hours before kickoff, when Mark Sanchez told Rich Eisen of NFL Network, which televised Thursday’s game, that he was “really disappointed” about injuring his shoulder on Aug. 24 because “it was a done deal” that he had won the quarterback competition, and that “there is no plan for surgery at this time” because he is hopeful that diligent rehabilitation will help him avoid it.

Although neither Sanchez nor the Jets have disclosed the nature of his injury, a person with knowledge of it said he has a torn labrum. Not once since sustaining the injury has Sanchez issued such feisty public comments, and these could mark the opening salvo if he and the Jets disagree on a course of treatment.

Very likely it is all moot anyway. A Sanchez comeback, at this stage, could do little to dissuade the Jets from sticking with Smith. He bounced up after taking big hits, feathered a few deep balls and commanded the huddle, absorbing advice offered at lunch Tuesday by Santonio Holmes, who spoke about the importance of managing the game, of sustaining drives to keep Brady and the Patriots’ usually high-powered offense off the field.

He also held onto the ball too long, took four sacks and failed to recognize open receivers, all problems that plagued him last week, too. They reappeared Thursday night, and first place in the A.F.C. East — unlikely when the season dawned, eminently possible when the night began — vanished with them.

A version of this article appears in print on September 13, 2013, on Page B9 of the New York edition with the headline: Jets Have Opportunity But Fall To Patriots . Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe